262 BATKACHIA. 



all through Italy and Switzerland, in Gallicia and the 

 Bukovina; not uncommon in the South of France, Bel- 

 gium, and Carniola. 



Triton marmoratus. 



Triton onarmoratus, Dum. et Bib. vol. ix. p. 135 ; Schinz, Etu'op. 

 Faun. vol. ii. p. GO ; Buon. Faun. Ital. (figui'ed). (Vide 

 article T. Alpestris oi ihaivfork.) 



Desceiption. — The body is more or less covered with 

 wrinkles and warts, and is rather thick and short ; the 

 male in spring is adorned by a very ample crest, mnning 

 along the back and tail ; its colour at that season is dark 

 green, marbled mth black angular spots, sometimes con- 

 fluent, and placed without regularity ; very often the crest 

 is black, with a number of equidistant white spots ; in the 

 female the green is less bright, and the marblings have a 

 red-brown tinge ; the crest is absent, and along the back 

 runs a line of yellow, more or less clear ; the body beneath 

 is black, with scattered white specks ; the centre of the 

 flat portion of the tail is milky-white ; in the female the 

 tail beneath is pale yellow or orange ; upper lip straight, 

 not di'ooping over the jaw as in T. cnstatus; at other 

 seasons of the year the colours become much less bright, 

 and the crest of the male disappears. 



Entire length, 6 or 7 inches. 



A variety has been occasionally met with, once in the 

 cellars of the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, 

 with a bright vermilion line along the back and tail ; all 

 the under parts of the body vinous brown, with numerous 

 white specks. 



The T. Carnifex and T. Nycthemerus of authors are pro- 

 bably merely further varieties of this very changeable 

 species, depending upon the age or sex of the individual, 

 or upon the situation in which it hvcs. The former appears 



